Boca Helping Hands’ Bowling for Bread Benefited Local Children’s Charities

Boca Helping Hands welcomed 150 adults and children at their annual Bowling for Bread event on August 27 at Bowlero in Boca Raton. BHH invited kids from local children’s charities to attend at no cost to enjoy an afternoon of bowling, food, and prize giveaways.

The children’s charities that were beneficiaries of the event included 4KIDS of South Florida, Inc., Achievement Centers for Children & Families, Adopt a Family of the Palm Beaches, Inc., American Association of Caregiving Youth, Fuller Center, Place of Hope, PROPEL, and Pearl City Cats. The event also raised enough funds to provide 31,573 meals for the BHH weekend meal program.

Special guests included Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, Palm Beach County Commissioner Marci Woodward, and Boca Raton City Council Member Marc Wigder. Florida Atlantic University football players, including Defensive Lineman Evan Anderson, Running Back Larry McCammon III, Offensive Lineman Chaz Neal, Quarterback Casey Thompson, and Wide Receiver LaJohntay Wester, also came out to cheer on the kids and bowl alongside them.

Trophies were awarded to the top three bowling teams and overall high score. Bowling tournament winners were:

3rd place team – Lee Pearlson Steinberg Foundation and Friends

2nd place team – Waypoint Residential

1st place team – Raymond James

The top score was 178, bowled by Dave Currier.

Boca Helping Hands has operated the BHH Backpacks children’s meal program for the past 12 years, providing food-insecure students with non-perishable, easy-to-prepare meals every Friday to ensure they get enough to eat on the weekends. During the 2022-23 school year, BHH Backpacks helped over 1,600 students in 13 local schools, providing a record 297,864 meals and 148,932 snacks to elementary students in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach.

This year’s event was held in memory of longtime BHH Volunteer LouAnn Such, who co-chaired Bowling for Bread for over a decade. “This event was very important to LouAnn, as she wanted to make sure the kids all had an amazing time every year,” said Karen Swedenborg, Associate Director of Development. “We named one of the charity’s lanes in her honor, and each participating child received a ‘LouAnn Such Participation Medal’ so that her legacy lives on.”

Bowling for Bread is part of Boca Chamber Festival Days—a series of fun-filled August events intended to raise awareness and funds by pairing nonprofits with for-profit members of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce. AvalonBay Communities was Bowling for Bread’s For-Profit Chamber Partner and the Event Sponsor was the Lee Pearlson Steinberg Foundation. Other major sponsors included the Gary Peters Family Foundation, AEO Foundation, Medical Materials, Inc., and Waypoint Residential.

This was the Lee Pearlson Steinberg Foundation’s sixth year sponsoring the event. “It’s always a great time bowling and watching the kids have fun, and I was so glad to be a part of it again this year,” said Foundation Trustee Lee Steinberg. “My mom, Pearl, had a soft spot for children’s causes, and I love honoring her legacy by supporting Bowling for Bread.”

About Boca Helping Hands

Now in its 25^th year of operation, Boca Helping Hands (BHH) is a community-based nonprofit that provides food, medical, and financial assistance to meet basic human needs as well as education, job training, and guidance to create self-sufficiency. Through its various programs, BHH assists nearly 35,000 people annually.

Boca Helping Hands is a partner agency of The Town of Palm Beach United Way. Since 1945, the Town of Palm Beach United Way has been committed to improving lives and building strong communities throughout Palm Beach County by focusing on programs and priorities that promote education, health, and financial stability.

Boca Helping Hands holds accreditation for Sound Nonprofit Management from Nonprofits First, has a 2022 Gold Seal of Transparency from Candid/GuideStar, and was named a Four-Star Charity by Charity Navigator for the 16th consecutive year in 2022. Boca Helping Hands is at 1500 NW 1st Court, Boca Raton, FL 33432. For more information, please visit BocaHelpingHands.org.